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1897.]  The  Geological  Congress  in  Russia.  951 


THE  GEOLOGICAL  CONGRESS  IN  RUSSIA. 

By  Charles  Palache. 

The  Seventh  International  Geological  Congress  assembled 
in  St.  Petersburg  during  the  first  week  of  September,  1897. 
The  Congress  was  notable  among  the  meetings  of  this  organ- 
ization for  the  large  number  in  attendance.  It  will  certainly 
be  memorable,  to  such  of  its  members  as  took  part  in  them, 
for  the  extent  and  interest  of  the  excursions  planned  in  con 


952  The  American  Naturalist.  [November, 

nection  with  it  and  for  the  warm-hearted  hospitality  tendered 
them  in  every  part  of  the  broad  empire  which  they  visited. 

The  program  of  excursions,  issued  early  in  the  year  by  the 
Committee  of  Organization,  was  carried  out  in  all  its  essential 
details.  Moscow  was  the  starting  point  of  the  first  excursion 
to  the  Urals  preliminary  to  the  Congress,  and  consequently  it 
was  that  city  which  most  of  the  excursionists  made  their  first 
objective  point  on  entering  the  country.  We  found  wherever 
we  crossed  the  border  that  our  membership  tickets  made  the 
passage  through  the  Custom  House  easy,  although  they  did 
not  replace  our  passports  which  we  had  often  to  show.  Our 
railroad  passes  too,  were  accepted  without  question,  and  the 
most  courteous  treatment  greeted  us  on  every  hand. 

At  Moscow  we  found  the  Bureau  of  tlie  Congress  established 
in  the  halls  of  the  University,  and  here  and  in  the  parlors  of 
the  Continental  Hotel,  frequent  gatherings  of  the  excursionists 
took  place  during  the  three  days  we  were  in  the  city.  The 
excursions  in  the  vicinity  of  Moscow  were  of  moderate  inter- 
est geologically,  the  greatest  attaching  to  that  which  visited 
the  richly  fossiliferous  middle  Carboniferous  beds  of  Miatch- 
kowo  on  the  bank  of  the  Moskwa  Kiver.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  city  itself  with  its  wholly  oriental  character  in  architecture, 
coloring  and  street  life,  offered  more  than  enough  attractions 
to  occupy  the  time  at  our  disposal,  and  there  were  doubtless 
few  who  did  not  regret  leaving  this,  the  centre  and  fountain- 
head  of  the  Russian  national  life. 

About  one  hundred  and  thirty-five  persons  took  part  in  the 
Ural  excursion,  of  whom  nine  were  ladies.  A  special  train  of 
thirteen  cars  was  our  means  of  transport  and  place  of  abode 
for  the  first  three  weeks  of  the  trip,  while  a  restaurant  train  of 
box  cars,  provided  with  tables  and  cliairs,  preceded  us  and 
furnished  forth  our  meals.  If  there  were  numerous  discom- 
forts associated  with  this  style  of  living,  one  could  not  but  re- 
member that  there  was  no  precedent  for  or  experience  of  such 
an  excursion  as  ours  in  the  remote  regions  which  we  visited, 
and  criticism  was  disarmed  by  the  conditions. 

From  day  to  day  excursions  of  various  kinds  were  made 
along  or  away  from  the  general  line  of  the  railroad  which  was 


1897,]  The  Geological  Congress  in  Russia.  953 

our  base  of  operations.  A  steamer  trip  from  Samara,  on  the 
Volga — a  walk  along  the  railroad,  fifteen  miles  from  Acha  to 
Miniar,  giving  a  fine  section  of  the  Carboniferous  and  Devonain 
strata — a  two  day's  wagon  trip  to  th.e  iron  mines  (limonite)  of 
Bakal — a  visit  to  the  foundry  at  Simsk  and  its  charming  en- 
virons— such  were  a  few  of  the  earlier  excursions  which,  be- 
sides showing  interesting  geological  sections,  gave  us  a  good 
opportunity  to  become  acquainted  with  the  customs  and  mode 
of  living  of  the  people  of  the  region.  And  at  every  mine  and 
foundry,  in  many  of  the  towns  and  even  at  the  railway  sta- 
tions, we  found  the  heartiest  welcome  awaiting  us,  great  con- 
courses of  people  who  looked  upon  us  with  undisguised  curios- 
ity but  evident  good  will,  receptions  by  the  local  authorities, 
and  numerous  lunches  and  banquets  of  the  most  lavish  de- 
scription. It  is  difficult  indeed,  to  express  the  feeling  of  grow- 
ing wonder  which  all  shared  at  the  continuous  ovation  that 
greeted  us  on  all  sides  as  we  made  our  progress  through  these 
mountainous  regions,  seemingly  so  little  calculated  to  afford 
such  entertainment  as  we  found.  Still,  harsh  as  it  may  seem 
to  criticise  in  such  a  case,  it  must  be  confessed  that  there  was 
too  large  a  share  of  our  time  devoted  to  social  functions,  and 
we  might  have  seen  many  additional  localities  of  geologic 
interest  had  we  not  been  compelled  by  our  kind  hosts  to 
arrange  our  movements  in  accordance  with  their  too  frequent 
hospitalities. 

The  guide  book  of  the  excursions  was  prepared  in  the  form 
of  separate  pamphlets  for  various  localities  or  regions,  written 
by  the  men  who  were  best  acquainted  in  each  and  who  were 
to  be  our  leaders.  The  descriptions  were  generally  good, 
though  often  lacking  in  details  ;  the  sections  and  illustrations 
were  satisfactory,  though  the  mine  sections  rarely  corresponded 
with  the  visible  exposures.  The  accompanying  geological 
map  of  Russia,  scale  1:6,300,000,  reduced  from  the  larger  map 
published  by  the  Geological  Committee  in  1892,  scale  1:2,520,000 
served  as  a  very  convenient  means  of  orientation. 

In  the  region  between  Moscow  and  Oufa  where  our  leader 
was  Nikitin,  we  saw  horizontal  or  slightly  disturbed  strata 
ranjiinfi:  from  Cretaceous  downward  to  middle  Carboniferous. 


954  The  American  Naturalist.  [November, 

At  Oufa,  at  the  foot  of  the  Ural  Mountains,  we  entered  a  zone 
of  openly  folded  paleozoic  rocks  including  the  Devonian 
series,  the  folds  becoming  rapidly  more  compressed  and  the 
disturbances  greater  as  we  advanced  into  the  mountains.  At 
Slatoust  we  encountered  the  first  crystalline  schists,  considered 
by  Tschernyscheff  our  leader,  on  stratigraphic  evidence  which 
but  few  of  the  party  considered  conclusive,  to  be  metamorphic 
Devonian. 

Within  this  band  of  schists  or  on  its  borders,  is  a  group  of 
mineral  localities  which  have  produced  many  interesting  and 
beautiful  specimens  obtained  by  the  efforts  of  many  engineers 
of  the  Russian  Mining  Bureau  through  a  long  series  of  years, 
and  now  in  large  part  preserved  in  the  cabinet  of  the  Mining 
Academy  in  St.  Petersburg.  These  minerals  all  appear  to  be 
contact  products  between  clay  slates  and  limestones  and  mas- 
sive eruptive  rocks  of  the  character  of  diorite  or  peridotite. 
One  of  the  best  known  and  most  typical  of  these  occurrences 
is  the  Achmatoff  mine.  Here,  on  a  more  or  less  chloritic 
matrix,  were  found  beautiful  crystallizations  of  garnet,  epi- 
dote,  pyroxene,  vesuvianite,  such  titamium  minerals  as  perof- 
skite,  titanite  and  ilmenite,  zircon,  apatite  and  various  mem- 
bers of  the  chlorite  group. 

Passing  eastward  still  across  the  Ural  divide,  we  entered  a 
region  of  gneisses  and  granitic  rocks.  The  day  spent  at 
Miass,  in  the  Ilmen  Mountains,  under  the  joint  leadership  of 
Karpinsky  and  Arzruni,  was  replete  with  interest.  The  Ilmen 
Mountains  are  a  subordinate  range  of  the  Ural  chain  composed 
largely  of  eleolite-syenite,  classical  under  Gustav  Rose's  name 
of  miasclte.  This  rock  is  well  exposed,  is  rich  in  a  variety  of 
minerals  and  offers  numerous  interesting  problems  to  the  pet- 
rographer.  The  most  notable  minerals  here  collected,  chiefly 
from  the  pegmatitic  facies  of  the  rock,  were  nepheline,  can- 
crinite  and  sodalite,  zircon,  apatite,  ilmenite  and  biotite  in 
huge  plates.  In  the  pegmatite  veins  traversing  the  neighbor- 
ing gneiss  and  granite,  we  saw  a  very  different  group  of  min- 
erals including  albite  and  microcline,  topaz,  zircon  and  cuclase 
and  samarskite,  pyrochlor  and  other  rare  earth  minerals. 


1897.]  The  Geological  Congress  in  Russia.  955 

At  Miass.  also,  was  the  first  of  the  gold  placers  which  are 
worked,  by  what  seemed  crude  and  primitive  methods,  in 
various  parts  of  the  Urals. 

At  Tcheliabinsk,  the  eastern  limit  of  our  excursion,  as  well 
as  at  Beresof,  near  Ekaterinburg,  we  saw  gold-bearing  quartz 
veins,  tlie  former  only  recently  explored,  the  latter  with  ex- 
tensive workings  dating  back  many  j^ears. 

At  Ekaterinburg,  the  principal  city  of  the  Ural  region,  we 
we  were  hospitably  entertained  by  the  Ural  Society  for  Nat- 
ural Science,  and  were  shown  an  interesting  exhibit  of  the 
products  of  numerous  local  establishments  for  the  cutting  of 
gems  and  semi-precious  stones. 

Continuing  northward  our  next  halt  was  in  the  busy  min- 
ing town  of  Njni-Taghilsk.  Within  this  district  are  the  exten- 
sive iron  mines  (magnetite)  of  Wyssokaia  and  Blagodat ;  the 
copper  mine  of  Mednoroudiansk,  famous  for  its  former  pro- 
duction of  the  malachite  so  prized  in  Russian  decoration; 
largely  worked  deposits  of  manganese  ore,  and  the  platinum 
placers  at  Platina.  This  last  metal  appears  to  occur.in  the 
peridotitic  rocks  which  constitute  the  bed  rock  of  the  region ; 
their  decomposition  sets  it  free,  so  that  it  may  be  won  by 
placer  washing. 

Again  crossing  the  water-shed  of  the  Urals  and  descending 
rapidly  to  the  plain  we  reached  Perm  on  the  Kama  River, 
where  we  left  our  train  for  a  roomy  and  comfortable  steamer 
on  which  for  three  days  we  floated  down  the  stream  to  its  con- 
fluence with  the  Volga.  Numerous  excursions  on  the  banks 
made  us  acquainted  with  the  Permian  series,  including  the 
upper,  Permo-triassic  division,  the  so-called  "  etage  tartarien." 
Turning  up  the  Volga  we  halted  at  the  old  tartar  city  of 
Kazan,  where  we  were  entertained  by  the  university  and  later 
by  the  city.  And  the  end  of  the  fourth  day  from  Perm  found 
us  at  Njni-Novgorod.  A  day  was  spent  here  seeing  the  fair, 
and  then  we  took  train  directly  for  St.  Petersburg,  where  we 
found  the  quarters  previously  assigned  us  in  the  many  hotels 
of  the  city  or  in  the  large  dormitory  of  the  university,  where 
some  fifty  of  the  members  were  located.  The  hundred  and 
twenty  members  of  the  Finland  excursion  reached  St.  Peters- 


956  •        The  American  Naturalist.  [November, 

burg  the  same  morning  (August  28th)  by  steamer,  reporting  a 
most  interesting  week's  trip,  during  which  they  had  enjoyed 
quite  as  lavish  hospitality  as  had  been  the  lot  of  those  in  the 
Urals.  They  were  under  the  guidance  of  Sederholm,  and  saw 
much  glacial  geology  in  addition  to  the  old  crystalline  forma- 
tions of  western  and  southern  Finland. 

The  formal  opening  of  the  Congress  took  place  the  afternoon 
of  Sunday,  August  29th,  in  the  hall  of  the  Zoological  Institute 
of  the  University,  which  was  well  filled  by  a  large  and  brilliant 
audience.  The  Honorary  President  of  the  Congress,  the  Grand 
Duke  Constantino  Constantinovitch,  presided  and  opened  the 
session  with  an  address  of  welcome.  It  was  followed  by  sim- 
ilar addresses  by  the  Princess  of  Oldenburg,  President  of  the 
Imperial  Society  of  Mineralogy,  and  by  the  Minister  of  Agri- 
culture, Ermoloft'.  Renevier,  President  of  the  preceding  Con- 
gress, announced  the  officers  named  by  the  council,  the  Amer- 
ican Vice-Presidents  being  Marsh,  Emerson,  Emmons  and 
Frazer.  The  address  of  the  President,  Karpinsky,  was  chiefly 
occupied  with  a  brief  statement  of  the  questions  to  come  before 
the  Congress,  and  after  a  resume  by  TschernyschefF,  Secretary- 
General,  of  the  work  of  the  Committee  of  Organization  in  ar- 
ranging for  the  Congress  and  excursions,  the  session  came  to  a 
close. 

Of  the  eight  hundred  and  fifty  names  which  appeared  in 
the  official  list  of  the  members  of  the  Congress,  upwards  of 
six  hundred  were  recorded  as  in  attendance.  Despite  this 
very  large  membership  the  actual  number  at  the  meetings  was 
very  small,  rarely  more  than  one  hundred  being  present. 
But  the  adjoining  hall  where  numerous  exhibits  were  arranged 
was  always  occupied  by  a  throng  of  members,  showing  very 
clearly  that  here  as  generally  in  such  meetings,  it  is  the  per- 
sonal intercourse  that  is  desired  by  the  members  rather  than 
the  formal  discussions. 

The  subjects  which  it  was  desired  to  have  specially  brought 
before  this  Congress,  as  announced  in  an  early  circular  of  tlie 
Committee  of  Organization  and  as  stated  in  the  President's 
address,  were  as  follows  : 

1.  Shall  stratigraj)hic  nomenclature  be  based  upon  an  arti- 
ficial or  upon  a  natural  classification. 


1897.]  The  Geological  Congress  in  Russia.  957 

2.  Establishment  of  rules  governing  introduction  of  new 
terms  in  stratigraphic  nomenclature. 

3.  Adoption  of  definite  principles  of  classification  of  rocks 
and  of  petrographic  nomenclature. 

The  discussion  of  the  first  question  showed  clearly  the  opin- 
ion of  most  of  the  geologists  present  that  the  accepted  artificial 
classification  was  the  only  admissable  one,  its  abandonment 
for  what  must  necessarily  as  yet  be  a  somewhat  vague  and  ill- 
defined  substitute,  being  certain  to  result  only  in  a  state  of 
confusion  in  the  science. 

Discussion  of  the  second  proposition  centered  upon  papers 
presented  at  an  early  meeting  by  Freeh,  Breslau,  Ueber  Ab- 
grenzungund  Benennungder  geologischen  Schichtengruppen, 
and  by  Bittner,  Vienna,  Vorschlage  fiir  eine  Normiring  der 
Reglen  der  stratigraphischen  Nomenclatur. 

The  propositions  of  these  writers  as  modified  and  accepted 
by  the  Congress  amounted  to  little  more  than  a  formal  state- 
ment of  the  ordinary  practice  of  geologists  with  regard  to  new 
names.     They  were  in  brief  as  follows  : 

1.  Introduction  of  a  new  stratigraphic  term  into  the  inter- 
national nomenclature,  should  be  based  only  on  a  well  deter- 
mined and  peremptory  scientific  necessity,  should  be  accom- 
panied by  full  description  bf  deposits  to  which  it  is  applied, 
and  should  be  founded  on  facts  observed  on  more  than  a  sin- 
gle exposure. 

2.  A  name  applied  to  any  deposit  in  a  definite  way  is  not  to 
be  used  in  another  sense. 

3.  Date  of  publication  determines  priority  of  terms. 

4.  In  giving  new  names  to  minuter  stratigraphic  subdivis- 
ions, it  is  desirable  to  take  paleontological  characteristics  as  a 
base.  Geographic  names  should  only  be  used  in  default  of 
the  former,  or  for  series  of  importance  containing  numerous 
paleontological  horizons. 

5.  Names  etymologically  false  or  badly  formed  are  to  be  re- 
jected or  corrected. 

One  afternoon  meeting  was  devoted  to  subjects  of  petro- 
graphic character,  and  in  order  to  facilitate  discussion  of  the 
general  questions  in  that  department,  a  special  meeting  of  pet- 


958  The  American  Naturalist.  [November, 

rographers,  to  the  number  of  over  fifty,  was  held,  Zirkel  presid- 
ing. The  discussions  were  animated,  centering  upon  classifi- 
cation, but  resulted  in  the  following  almost  unanimous  expres- 
sion of  opinion,  which  was  presented  through  the  council  to 
the  Congress: 

"  It  is  not  desirable,  in  view  of  the  present  rapid  develop- 
ment of  the  science  of  petrography,  to  attempt  to  establish 
definite  principles  of  classification  of  rocks  by  a  resolution  of 
the  Congress. 

"  To  attain  the  simplification  of  petrographic  nomenclature 
demanded  by  geologists,  it  is  necessary  to  define  with  greater 
precision  than  has  yet  been  done  such  general  terms  as  are 
required  in  geological  mapping." 

A  resolution  presented  by  Brogger  expressed  the  view  that 
it  was  desirable  and  probably  practical  to  establish  a  interna- 
tional journal  of  petrography  devoted  chiefly  to  reviews  and 
abstracts  of  the  current  literature.  This  resolution  excited 
considerable  debate,  but  was  finally  adopted  and  transmitted 
to  the  Congress  with  the  request  that  a  committee  be  appointed 
to  ascertain  the  feasibility  of  the  plan.  The  committee  named 
consists  of  fifteen  men,  the  American  members  being  Iddings 
and  Pirsson. 

Papers  of  interest  presented  in  this  department  W'Cre  by 
Walter,  Jena,  Versuch  einer  Classification  der  Gesteine  auf 
Grund  der  vergleichenden  Lithogenie,  and  by  Loewinson-Les- 
sing,  Dorpat,  Note  sur  la  Classification  et  la  Nomenclature  des 
Roches  Eruptives. 

Walter  attempts  a  general  classification,  his  basis  being  the 
recognition  of  primary  and  of  secondary  characters  in  rocks, 
of  which  the  first  alone  determines  the  place  in  the  system. 
Thus  every  metamorphic  rock,  however  altered  by  "  secondary 
characters,"  is  grouped  under  the  rock  from  which  it  is  derived. 
He  makes  four  main  groups,  Mechanical,  Chemical,  Organic 
and  Volcanic  Rocks. 

Loewinson-Lessing  bases  his  classification  of  the  eruptive 
rocks  wholly  on  their  chemical  composition,  expressed  in  terms 
of  the  "  oxygen  equivalent,"  and  of  the  ])roportions  of  the 
various  oxides. 


1897.]  The  Oeological  Congress  in  Russia.  959 

The  Congress  endorsed  strongly  a  proposition  by  Androus- 
sofF,  Dorpat,  for  the  establishment  of  an  International  Floating 
Institute,  or  laboratory,  for  the  study  of  Oceanography,  to  be 
supported  by  various  Governments  in  place  of  the  isolated  ex- 
peditions sent  out  for  this  purpose  from  time  to  time  by  differ- 
ent ones. 

The  invitation  of  the  French  geologists  to  hold  the  next  ses- 
sion of  the  Congress  in  Paris  in  1900  was  accepted.  A  bulle- 
tin was  distributed  showing  the  proposed  excursions  to  Brit- 
tany, to  Normandy,  and,  after  the  session,  to  the  Central  Pla- 
teau and  the  French  Alps. 

A  sad  incident  of  the  Congress  was  the  sudden  death  in  St. 
Petersburg  of  one  of  its  members,  SpendiarofF,  Dorpat,  who 
had  taken  part  in  the  Ural  excursion  and  was  to  have  been  a 
leader  during  a  part  of  the  Caucasus  excursion.  At  the  clos- 
ing session  of  the  Congress  it  was  announced  that  the  father  of 
the  deceased  had  presented  a  sum  of  money  to  commemorate  his 
son,  the  interest  to  be  awarded  as  a  prize  for  the  best  paper  on 
a  stated  subject  at  successive  meetings  of  the  Congress. 

Numerous  festivities  and  excursions  were  a  part  of  the 
week's  program  at  St.  Petersburg.  The  Tsar  received  in 
audience  at  his  palace  of  Peterhof,  a  small  number  of  the  more 
distinguished  representatives  of  each  country.  At  a  later  day, 
but  in  his  absence,  the  whole  Congress  visited  the  palace  and 
beautiful  grounds,  journejang  down  the  harbor  by  steamer 
and  enjoying  a  luncheon  in  the  magnificient  imperial  dining 
hall. 

Another  day  was  devoted  to  a  visit  to  the  cataract  of  Imatra 
in  Finland,  a  hundred  miles  north  of  St.  Petersburg,  where  a 
sumptuous  banquet  was  served  in  a  pavilion  erected  for  the 
purpose  on  the  edge  of  the  thundering  torrent. 

Among  the  entertainments  in  St.  Petersburg,  the  most  nota- 
ble were  the  reception  by  the  Grand  Duke  Constantine  at  his 
palace  and  that  by  the  Mayor  and  city  officials  at  the  City 
Hall.  Many  pleasant  reunions  took  place  at  the  German  Club 
which  was  placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  members  during  the 
session.  The  museums  and  collections  of  the  city  were  made 
easy  of  access  through  special  open  hours,  and  their  manifold 


9.6,0  The  American  Naturalist.  [November, 

attractions  doubtless  were  to  blame  for  the  frequently  slim 
attendance  at  the  meetings. 

The  close  of  the  session  was  marked  by  the  departure  of  a 
large  proportion  of  the  members  for  Moscow,  the  starting 
point  of  the  three  excursions  which  journeyed  by  different 
routes  toward  the  Caucasus  and  the  Crimea.  Upward  of  four 
hundred  people  participated  in  these  excursions  which  pro- 
mised so  many  and  so  varied  interests. 

Reprinted  from  The  American  Naturalist,  November,  1897. 


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